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Tuesday, May 19
Researching German Ancestors in Chester County, Pennsylvania (PA PalAm Events)
7:00 pm Via Zoom
On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, Ellen Endslow, Director of Collections/Curator at the Chester County History Center in West Chester, PA, will present on how the large number of German settlers who emigrated to Pennsylvania in the colonial era and during early statehood influenced settlement patterns.
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Thursday, June 18 through Saturday, June 20
2026 Palatines to America National Conference (PA PalAm Events)
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
The 2026 Palatines to America National Conference takes place at the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel in Lancaster, PA June 18-20, 2026.
Register by April 15, 2026 to lock in "Early Bird" pricing and when you register for the Conference, we'll send instructions with your registration confirmation about how to get deeply discounted "Conference Pricing" if you choose to stay at the DoubleTree.
Enjoy two full days (Friday & Saturday, June 19-20, 2026,) packed with presenters on a variety of topics of interest to anyone who interested in their German Heritage.
We will also have a variety of exhibitors and vendors with materials to support or enhance your German genealogy.
On the first day of the conference, Thursday, June 18, 2026, an optional bus tour to the Mennonite Life Museum and the Amish Village will be offered, with a traditional Amish-style lunch provided. For more information, click here.
Keep an eye out for more information in upcoming issues of the PennPal and Palatine Patter newsletters.
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Tuesday, August 18
Evaluating the DNA of Palatine Families – Part 2 (PA PalAm Events)
7:00 pm Via Zoom
This talk continues where our January program left off and will focus on how DNA can be used as a tool to enhance family history. In particular, how we can use DNA to link families together and discover new details about our ancestors. It will also give detailed examples of families who lived in the Palatine region of Germany, as well as Swiss-Germans who settled in the Palatinate for several generations from the mid-1600s to mid-1700s before immigrating to Pennsylvania.
Our presenter, Darvin L Martin, has been passionate about family history since his youth and began to explore ways to use DNA testing to solve family history puzzles since these tests were first offered more than twenty years ago.
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Saturday, September 26
Annual Meeting and Fall Webinar (PA PalAm Events)
1:00 pm Via Zoom
Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist®, is a genealogist with a law degree who provides expert guidance through the murky territory where law and family history intersect. Her topics for this meeting are, "Putting Those Records to Work" and "Legal History of Title Origins in Pennsylvania"
- Our first session (on Records) starts at 1:00 pm ET. It will explore the clear use of each document we locate. Each can be mined – directly or in combination with other records – for a deeper, richer context for our family members and their place in time.
- In our second session on Title Origins, we will learn that PA law begins with one premise: William Penn owned it all.
Knowing how the genealogists can read between the lines when tracing land ownership back to the beginning pays big dividends for research.
- Plan to stay for the Annual Membership Meeting following these two interesting presentations.
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Tuesday, October 20
Tips and Tricks of Deciphering German Handwriting (PA PalAm Events)
7:00 pm Via Zoom
Learn the top tips and tricks for deciphering the old German script! With expert insight on how to easily recognize certain letters, how to tell tricky letters apart, abbreviations, spelling variations, names, and more, you'll be amazed at what you can read after only an hour of learning! Your ancestors' stories are waiting for you.
Katherine Schober is German-English genealogy translator, author, and dedicated educator. As the founder of Germanology Unlocked, she brings over a decade of professional experience to her mission of helping individuals uncover and preserve their German family stories. Katherine specializes in deciphering old German handwriting.
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